The project will get $45 million that was approved several years ago to pay for final planning and environmental analysis.

A long-standing proposal to build a high-speed maglev train from Las Vegas to Anaheim will finally receive $45 million in federal funds that were approved several years ago to pay for the project's final planning and environmental analysis, the Nevada governor's office announced Wednesday.

Gov. Jim Gibbons said the Federal Railroad Administration will administer the money that was earmarked by Congress for the first phase of the system, which would extend from Las Vegas to Primm on the Nevada-California state line. The train, which has been in the planning stages for almost three decades, would run 270 miles to Anaheim and cost at least $12 billion to build.

Maglev technology relies on electricity and magnetic force to lift trains and propel them down a guideway at up to 300 mph. The only commercial maglev train is in China.